MP3's, IPOD's, Serius, What are they?

Mp3 is an audio file format which run on mp3 players of which there are dozens of choices from 50. to big bucks.

Ipod is a music player that has a hard drive built in (I think they have a mini that is chips rather than a drive) that holds bundles of music files.

Ipods run 200 and up and are all the fad - for those that can afford them.

Sirius is a satelite radio that you buy for around 100 then you subscribe to radio programing fromt he satelite for so many bucks a month - don't know how much.

Pesonally I use an old pocket computer for my music. It works just fine and it didn't cost anything extra

Can give more info if you have specific questions.

 

Audio file format: similar to word processing file formats. there are .doc files, .txt files etc for different word processors. MP3 is just one of the more popular formats.

Call a Best buy or Circuit city on that one, not sure, I'm sure you could if they were in the right audio file format.

On the Siris on the tv satelite, I would guess you might be able to, but you'd have to call the satelite tv people. It would probably be an added charge.

 

Joseph, I would add that MP3 audio files are compressed. Therefore they are not quite as good as a wav file, which is not compressed. The can be quite listenable though, and their smaller size make them perfect for portable players, like the iPod.

Yes, you can download programs from the net and put them on a portable player. This is called podcasting.

 

But I think IPods have their own file format. So if you have an IPod, I don't think you can listen to MP3s and the like. Someone correct me if I am wrong. Apple has, once again, probably shot themselves in teh foot for long term market share by such proprietary stuff. They did it with Mac and the harder to use PC took off like a rocket because of the "clone" market that Mac never had. The reason why PCs have such great market share today (probalby 90%+) is because no one could clone a mac and thus, there was no market competition. Had you been able to buy Mac clones, it is doubtful that Gates would have as much money as he does.

 

Types of audio formats:

.wma - Windows Media (not currently compatible with I-Pods)

.mp3 - pretty much the standard compressed audio file (compatible with just about everything)

.m4p - Apple I-Tunes format (sometimes not compatible with Windows Media compatible products)

.wav - uncompressed audio (HUGE FILES), what your CD burner converts other audio files to being before burning to a CD

.ram - "Real" (brandname) Audio file

This isn't an exhaustive list, but it covers the majors.

 

Even so, only serious audiophiles will notice the difference.

 

The proprietary Ipod music format is an "*.AAC".
Ipods will also play MP3s. Ipods can store other files like Word and Excell documents, like a huge flash drive.

Just to give some idea of the size difference between a WAV and an MP3, a standard CD-R can record approximately 780 megabytes of data, or just about 78 minutes of music in WAV format, say maybe 14-18 songs. MP3s are about a tenth the size of WAV files, so a CD-R could hold about 780 minutes of MP3 recordings, or more like 170 songs. AACs are even a bit smaller.

MP3s are smaller for a couple of reasons. There is some compression, but most of all they reduce available information by cutting the dynamic and musical range of the recording, not just to what the human ear can reasonably be expected to be able to hear but also to what a smaller player can actually play in an environment with some background noise. The highs and the lows are clipped a bit, and the differences between the soft passages and the loud passages are reduced.

In a favorable environment, with the right equipment, you can tell the difference, but in a car or a bus or even an office, it really isn't troublesome. Its like driving a car and having to turn the radio volume up when you go faster. As an FYI, most newer DVD players will also play MP3s, so a CD full of MP3s is a nice way of providing background music at a social gathering without constantly shuffling CDs in and out of the player.